Deena Darby (she/her) is an architect, planner, educator, and interdisciplinary artist whose work operates at the intersection of cultural memory, spatial practice, and Black geographies. With over six years of professional experience spanning architecture, education, community engagement, and urban research, her practice explores how design, research, and creative methodologies can advance racial justice, design justice, and community self-determination. She is particularly interested in public-interest storytelling, spatial analysis, and participatory research as tools for understanding and transforming the built environment.

Grounded in participatory design and community-led approaches, Deena's work investigates how histories of displacement, migration, and resilience are embedded in the spaces we inhabit. Her research brings together oral histories, archival investigation, quantitative and qualitative data, spatial analysis, and policy research to connect lived experience with broader structural conditions. She is interested in translating complex research into accessible narratives, visualizations, and actionable planning tools that support communities in shaping their own futures. Her practice seeks to transform cultural memory into spatial agency, creating processes and artifacts that enable communities to author their own narratives and influence the decisions that shape their environments.

Deena received her Master of City Planning in City Design and Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where her graduate research examined participatory co-design as a planning tool for Black community self-determination. Her thesis, From Cultural Memory to Implementation: Participatory Co-Design as a Planning Tool for Black Community Self-Determination in Savannah, Georgia, explored how collective knowledge could inform strategies for resisting displacement, preserving cultural identity, and advancing community ownership. Through oral histories, archival research, collaborative workshops, spatial analysis, and policy development, she connected community knowledge to implementation strategies, including community-directed requests for proposals and planning tools. The research culminated in a digital website and mapping platform supporting community organizers in Savannah, alongside a large-scale embroidered tapestry translating archival research, spatial data, and collective memory into a tactile visual artifact. Her thesis received the 2026 Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Marsha Ritzdorf Award for Best Student Work on Diversity, Social Justice and the Role of Women in Planning.

Alongside her research and planning practice, Deena explores materiality and storytelling through fabric, print, mapping, and archival media. Drawing on embroidery, laser cutting, and textile-based image-making, she investigates how personal and collective histories can be preserved and made tangible, positioning creative practice as both a method of inquiry and a means of making histories visible.

Her professional experience spans architectural practice, community-based planning, and design advocacy. She has worked with municipalities, nonprofit organizations, and community groups on initiatives addressing equitable development, public space, cultural preservation, and housing. Her institutional collaborations include the Design Trust for Public Space and Urban Design Forum. She served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at New York City College of Technology and has taught, presented, and guest-reviewed at Columbia, Pratt, Harvard, Drexel, and Syracuse University. She has also been involved with Design as Protest and Dark Matter U, collaborating with interdisciplinary networks challenging inequities in design education and practice.

Originally from Savannah, Georgia, Deena received her Bachelor of Architecture from Syracuse University. She is a registered architect based on the indigenous lands of the Canarsie, Wappinger, and Munsee Lenape peoples (Queens, NY).

Education

Master of City Planning | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Bachelor of Architecture | Syracuse University

Professional registrations and credentials

Registered Architect | State of New York

Areas of focus/research interests

Great Migration, Return & Reverse Migration | Black Geographies & Diaspora Studies | Cultural Memory & Oral History | Design Justice & Spatial Justice | Community Engagement & Community-Engaged Learning | Community-Engaged Design & Participatory Planning | Participatory Policy & Community Self-Determination | Archival Practices & Critical Cartography